It felt so good to be back.
We all looked splendid and heavenly in our crisp, Angel whites. Our spikes clickety clacked like Fred Astaire on the changing room floor as we eagerly awaited our opposition.
When Leazes arrived, our mouths dropped in horror.....or was it hunger?
As they piled out of their cars, we couldn't help but notice that massive Golden Dragon menus had been ironed onto the front of their shirts.
I wondered briefly, as they went into their changing room, if Naomi had a wok in her bag and would be rustling up some king prawns with black bean sauce and prawn crackers as a treat before the game. Would Shelagh do us some spare ribs? Or better still, some of that delicious salt and pepper chicken.
My mouth started watering as the coin spun in the air to decide who would bat first.
Leazes decided it should be the Angels.
"We need to get back in time to wash the dishes,' Vicki explained, 'It was part of the deal for the shirts.'
'We'll do our best to make sure you're not late,' said Sandra kindly.
And so, out stepped Lisa and Chloe to face the Leazes bowling attack - led by the evil triads - Vicki, Naomi and Shelagh.
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| Young Chloe - whacking the Triads all around the park |
Within seconds, deafened by the crinkling, crunching of the Dragon shirts, Lisa was chop suey inside-edgied oot for a Peking duck, followed by Chloe who was caught for (3). Sally, meanwhile batted bravely and sensibly with several other Angels - some of whom were oot for a crispy duck and others that scored some runs, namely Catching Chomse (1) and Cheryl (5).
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| Triad Shelagh on form with her bowling |
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| Triad Naomi - making me feel very Peck-ish with her no. 15 - lemon chicken and fried frice, advertised on her back |
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| Catching Chomse batting well |
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| OMG - a lovely defensive shot from wor Sal |
In the last over, our hero of the match, Sally, prawn crackered her knee. She became the Dragons' first carry out of the season.
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| The Dragons deliver their first carry out of the season |
The Dragons were on schedule for their shift in the kitchen. All they had to do was whack a handful of runs. Easy.
But the Angel's bowling was also pretty deadly, and within a few moments, the first Dragon was trudging back to the clubhouse thanks to a sharp catch by Mrs Chomse.
Naomi, sporting a big no.15 on her back advertising the Golden Dragon Special of lemon chicken with fried rice, looked dangerous with the bat, but thanks to a great hoy from our borrowed player, she was run oot fair and square.
When Shelagh came in, she did her best to distract the fielders by dusting the crease. The umpire refused to allow her to bring on the Henry Hoover though, and the game continued. With Angel fielders pressurising the 2 Dragons, it was only a matter of time before Shelagh went for a big slog edging the ball high into the air. It seemed to hang there for a few minutes whilst our new recruit, Jo Jo ran towards it taking her first amazing catch of the season. We now have 2 Catching Chomses in the team :D
The Dragons were crumbling under the pressure.
'We're going to miss our shift,' said Vicki worriedly as she came out to the crease. 'If we're late, we'll have to give the shirts back.'
Eventually, the Dragons got their runs, and the team sighed with relief. They would make their washing up shift after all....and they even had time for a bit of tea and good crack after the game.
It was a good start, Angels. The batting needs some work, but the fielding and the bowling showed signs of huge improvement, and we're clearly NOT going to be the walkovers that we once were in our first and second seasons.
As for our friends the Dragons - thank you for a good, competitive game! You 'takeaway' your first win of the season and we wish you much luck and good fortune! We also look forward to playing alongside some of you in the Tri-team 11-a-side games....How about we call ourselves the Triads? - as long as we don't have to wear those shirts....:D
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| The Angels are back in action! |
